Small world, Fletcher style

The other day, one of our student interviewers told me that she and an applicant had discovered they had a friend in common from their work in East Africa. Although I can’t say this type of coincidence happens every day, it isn’t super rare, either. I guess it fits with the “six degrees of separation” model (whether or not that model stands up to scientific scrutiny).

I had my own small world experience at Fletcher last spring. By random chance, I picked up an application and, for no good reason except that I knew people who shared the surname of the applicant, decided to look at the names he supplied for the parent/guardian section of the application. Turns out that I had met his father ages ago when we worked for the same company.

When you work at a place like Fletcher, it can seem like all the world’s residents are plugged in and connected to the rest of the world. Of course, that’s utterly untrue. In fact, the community directly or tangentially engaged in international affairs is limited enough in size that these “small world” events can happen with some regularity.